Remembering Polytechnique 25 Years Later

Today there is more debate on feminism than ever before. Rape—especially campus rape, is now something we hear more openly discussed. We hear of schools and employers taking action to prevent sexual assault and bring equality to these shared spaces. Despite this, the topic of abuse against women is still largely taboo to speak about. As often as we hear about schools bringing about change to these perceptions, there are other schools who continue to perpetuate victim blaming and inequality. Meanwhile, workplace harassment is still largely unreported, as we can see from recent news stories like those involving Bill Cosby or Jian Ghomeshi.

On December 6th, the entirety of Canada, particularly Montreal, will be remembering a tragic event which took the life of 14 innocent women 25 years ago. The anti-feminist shooting spree at École Polytechnique in 1989 sparked national discussion on the state of female equality and views towards women in the workforce. Discussions still occur every year around the event, which remain integral to changing the ideas of inequality which still persist today.